Everton are searching for their first win over Tottenham Hotspur in front of fans for over a decade but while they would happily take a victory however it might come in their current circumstances, they’ll be hoping it’s more straightforward than their last such success against the north London side.
Having already faced away fixtures against Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea, three of Everton’s bogey grounds, where they haven’t picked up three points since before the millennium, Blues boss Sean Dyche has already questioned whether there is anyone his new employers have a good record against. Unfortunately the former Burnley gaffer is not going to get much joy when being told about Everton’s recent results against Spurs.
The Blues have won just one of their last 20 Premier League matches with Tottenham and that was when Dominic Calvert-Lewin nodded in the only goal of the game at an empty London Stadium on the opening day of the season on September 13, 2020. Everton’s only other success against Spurs during this period also came behind closed doors later that season when Carlo Ancelotti’s men edged out Jose Mourinho’s side 5-4 after extra-time in a thrilling FA Cup fifth round tie at Goodison Park, although their most-recent home win against them in the Premier League on December 9, 2012 was also dramatic.
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With his deadly first-time finishing, Nikica Jelavic proved an instant hit at Everton, but after a prolific start, the Croatian striker proved to be something of a flash in the pan. After registering his first goal in the corresponding fixture at home to Tottenham Hotspur the previous season, a 1-0 win on March 10, he’d go on to net 11 times in 16 games.
Even though this last-gasp strike against the same opponents would complete a dramatic late comeback, it also proved something of a watershed in Jelavic’s Blues career as he’d register just one more goal in the Premier League in 2012/13. On retiring in 2021, he recalled: “The first eight months with Everton was the best period of my career.
“After that goal against Tottenham, everything seemed so easy. It was amazing, whenever I shot, it was in.
“I was so relaxed and confident. I was like, ‘I don’t care who I play against, they have to care about me’.”
However, the confidence spilled over to become complacency and Jelavic admitted: “I thought, ‘I can go a little bit easier and still play well’. You need to slow down just one step and you’re gone – and this is what I did.”
David Moyes had searched for so long to find a reliable frontman to spearhead his attack and take his Everton teams on to the next level but would often by thwarted in his efforts. The Scot spent big in trying to rectify the problem, smashing the club’s transfer record on three occasions to bring in James Beattie (£6m in 2005), Andrew Johnson (£8.6m in 2006) and Ayegbeni Yakubu (£11.25m in 2007).
Beattie never replicated his prolific Southampton form – he failed to find the net from open play in 35 games in his final season at Everton (2006/07) – with both his goals coming from penalties. In a similar vain to Jelavic, Johnson got off to a flying start but couldn’t keep it up, while Yakubu became the first Blues player since Peter Beardsley in 1992 to break the 20-goal barrier in a single season but then became a shadow of his former self after rupturing his Achilles tendon at White Hart Lane.
Following his £5.5m signing from Rangers in January 2012 – the Glasgow giants’ last big sale before their financial meltdown forced them to reform and start again in the fourth tier of Scottish football the following season – Jelavic, for a time, looked like he finally might be the answer. Although his scoring touch was already starting to allude him by this point, the ECHO’s Greg O’Keeffe highlighted how this last-gasp winner proved to be an early present for Evertonians in the festive period.
He wrote: “In Everton’s recent Christmas video a young supporter excitedly unwraps his gift to find Nikica Jelavic beaming at him inside. It’s a smile that has been missing from the striker’s face for the last five weeks when he has found little fortune of his own in front of goal.
“But whether it’s on a YouTube clip or at Goodison Park, Jelavic always has the potential to surprise in the box – and he delivered his own festive gift in style yesterday to rocket Everton up to fourth in the Premier League. David Moyes had barely finished celebrating what seemed like another draw when his centre-forward pounced, to squeeze the last drip of drama from an absorbing contest.”
The game had been locked in a stalemate until Clint Dempsey looked like he’d nicked it for Spurs on 76 minutes.
O’Keeffe said: “Tom Huddlestone had only been on for a few minutes when he slipped a short pass to the American who spotted that his compatriot Tim Howard had strayed from his line and took advantage with a shot that looped over Everton’s goalkeeper and into the net.”
As for the grandstand finale in stoppage time, he added: “It seemed like the familiar tale of being left to rue missed chances was unfolding. Yet to their credit the Blues remained calm and were rewarded spectacularly.
“Seamus Coleman crossed after good work from Steven Naismith, and Steven Pienaar arrived late to score an opportunistic header. It was Everton’s 1,000th Premier League goal, and they didn’t have to wait long for their next.
“Star man Darron Gibson aimed a ball at Apostolos Vellios and while the Greek striker fell attempting an overhead kick, Jelavic pounced on the loose ball and rifled it gleefully past Hugo Lloris. Cue pandemonium as Goodison erupted and Moyes celebrated on the pitch.”
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